


It's a Hard-Knock Cylon Life

by Lizardbeth



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Children, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Cylons, Gen, Humor, Sibling Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-12
Updated: 2011-10-12
Packaged: 2017-10-24 13:12:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/263870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizardbeth/pseuds/Lizardbeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Tighs run an orphanage of Wee!Cylons.  If this were live-action, they would burst into song.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's a Hard-Knock Cylon Life

All the children were lined up in their neat rows. Ellen Tigh surveyed them proudly as she walked down the line of the fresh faced little boys and little girls in the gray sailor suits and gray dresses. "Good morning, children."

They answered in piping unison, "Good morning, Mrs Tigh."

Except for Leoben. He was staring out the window. She stopped in front of him and gently tilted his chin up. "Good morning, Leoben."

"Good morning, Mrs Tigh," he answered properly.

She patted him on the head and moved down the line. Daniel coughed, though he tried not to. She smiled at him and stroked his cheek. "Rest, today, sweetheart. The rest of you -- I want these beds stripped, the floor clean, before breakfast at seven sharp."

"Yes, Mrs Tigh."

The instant she was gone, John cooed in mockery at Daniel, "'Rest today, sweetheart."

"Leave him alone, John," Sam said.

John glared at him. They were the oldest of the boys, and often got in fights. "You're not my dad. You're not the boss. So shut up." He shoved the skinny, dreamy boy into his bed so hard it rattled and Daniel lay there, stunned and coughing.

"Hey!" Sam went after him. "Leave him alone!" He tackled John but Simon and Aaron rushed over to grab him, and as they pulled him off, John kicked him in the stomach. Sam let out a wheezing breath and a noise like he might throw up, staggering back and panting. Simon and Aaron let him go, to kneel down with John and ask anxiously if he was okay.

"Stop it!" D'Anna and Galen rushed in to separate them but Sam and John both shrugged off the others, glaring at each other.

"We have work to do," Galen reminded everyone. "We don't have time for this."

Daniel coughed again.

And Sharon, who was the youngest of all, stared at Daniel with big dark eyes. "Is he gonna die?"

"No, no," Tory rushed to her to wrap her arms around her. "No, Sharon, Daniel will be fine. He's just sick."

"He's gonna die," John said with cruel delight. "He's gonna cough and cough, until he coughs blood and dies. I've seen it before in this place. Because they don't care about us."

"Yes, they do!" Caprica retorted and stuck out her pointy chin belligerently. "The Tighs love us."

John snorted. "You're such a child. All they care about is getting the state check so they can spend it on booze. And then they get all the money from _our_ hard work, and do we see any of it? No." He ripped the blanket off the bed. "Cotton blankets, instead of wool. Everything cheap and thin, it could be so much better. They don't even try."

"They do care!" Caprica insisted. "I know they do! Look how much Mrs Tigh loves Daniel--"

"No, she pities the sickly, useless one," John corrected. "But trust me, when he dies, she won't shed a tear. Not for any of us."

"Certainly not for you," Tory said.

"We'll be adopted," Leoben said. "I've had dreams --"

"No one cares," John told him sternly. "Not about you, not about your dreams. You're just a loose nut in a big machine."

"Yeah," Aaron agreed, "No one cares, Leoben." No one paid him the slightest attention.

"Do you know what the odds are of being adopted?" Simon asked. "For kids as old as we are? Parents want babies. Not us. So get your head out of the clouds, and into reality."

"It doesn't matter," D'Anna declared. "My parents are coming back for me. I'm sure it was just a mistake -- they didn't mean to leave me. They'll discover I'm in this place and they'll come for me and take me home..."

"I bet my parents are spies, and I was stolen from them," Caprica agreed with a nod. "They've been searching for me, and they'll find me, someday."

"You're fools," John told her. "Your parents are dead or abandoned you here, just like mine. Just like everyone else in this place."

Sharon started to cry and Tory hugged her, while Caprica smoothed her hair. Tory shushed her and glared at John. "Do you have to be such a jerk all the time? Gods, it's no wonder no one wants _you_."

"Nobody likes a bully," Sam sneered at him.

"Nobody likes a dumb jock," John retorted.

Sam scoffed, unbothered, "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that when I'm on the cover of Sports Illustrated and you're asking people if they want fries with that. Dick."

The girls laughed, which made John even angrier but he glared and fisted his hands against his thighs and appeared to be even madder that he couldn't find a good retort in time. He whirled around and stalked to his bed, Aaron trailing him faithfully.

Galen reminded them again, "We have to finish the room or there'll be hell to pay. Don't you remember the last time we had to go see the colonel?" They exchanged glances all around, and a few rubbed their backsides. "C'mon, move. Except you, Daniel. Sharon, you get to drive the basket."

She sniffled but ran to fetch the rolling laundry basket for their sheets and blankets, and for a little while they were all working together. And dreaming that everything would be better. Tomorrow.


End file.
